Miliband’s Carbon Budget Focusses On Domestic Emission Reductions

By Chris Briggs | Published April 20, 2009

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, is to release a radical target of carbon emission reductions along with the upcoming budget.

The plan is to cut CO2 emissions by 34%, however with the Copenhagen talks in December, this figure could rise to 42% upon agreement. Until now, the UK had been expected to ‘offset’ the emissions by paying poorer countries to reduce their emissions, however this isn’t sustainable and Ed Miliband has realised this, stating:

“I want to achieve as much as we can through domestic action. There will be a cap on credits from overseas. We are going to be sending a strong signal about that.”

He also added:

“This is a very important moment. It is a world first. A Budget which is a financial Budget but also has legally binding carbon budgets that we will have to stick to. It is an extraordinary transformation. It is a massive greening of the Government, part of the change in culture we need. We are leading the world.”

The government seems to be taking very positive steps towards stopping climate change. Lets just hope that talks in Copenhagen later this year will give them even more of a push as climate scientists agree that a 42% percent cut in emissions by 2020 is the minimum to save the planet from runaway climate change.